Relocatable personal and/or pet safety appliance

Abstract

Relocatable personal and / or pet safety shelters for protecting occupants from dangerous conditions such as those from hurricanes and tornadoes. The shelters can include metal wall and ceiling panels of approximately 10 gage to approximately 12 gage thick and be able to withstand winds of up to approximately 250 miles per hour or greater, and be able to withstand a projectile such as 2 inch by 4 inch wood member shot at approximately 100 miles per hour from penetrating inside. The shelter can have a length of approximately 60 inches, a width of approximately 30 inches, a height of approximately 55 inches, with a total weight of up to approximately 940 pounds. The shelter can have fixed bench seats along opposite sides of the door from each other, and be attached in a fixed horizontal orientation above the floor by elongated L-shaped brackets that are attached to the walls be removable fasteners. The bench seats can also be attached by hinges so that the bench seats can have folded up positions adjacent to side walls and can fold down to horizontal positions to allow occupants to sit thereon. A fold down table can be included to fold down between the two bench seats when being used. A safety window such as plexiglass, can be formed in the door to allow the occupants to see outside environmental conditions. The shelter can be fastened to a concrete pad base, or driveway or concrete floor and the like, both inside and outside of a garage, a home, a trailer, and the like.

Description

[0001]This invention relates to shelters and in particular to relocatable personal and / or pet safety appliances, and in particular to devices, systems and methods for providing shelters for protecting from storms.BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART[0002]Dangerous storms such as hurricanes and tornadoes can occur with little warning. For dangerous fast approaching storms such as hurricanes and tornadoes, safe emergency shelters are needed to protect persons and property from the immediate harm and destruction. Tornadoes are normally seasonal with the months of March through June being the most active. Approximately twenty percent of all tornadoes occur during the months of July through October, and less than ten percent occur during November through January. Tornadoes have been recorded with wind speeds of over 300 mph and can stay on the ground for over one hour. Flying debris can cause much injury and destruction. In recent years, more than 1,000 twisters have killed in excess of one hundred ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016]A primary objective of the present invention is to provide an easily assembled and relocateable personal shelter and / or shelter for pets for protecting occupants from dangerous conditions such as storms that can be produced at a minimal cost.

[0017]A secondary objective of the present invention is to provide an easily assembled and relocateable personal shelter and / or shelter for pets for protecting occupants from dangerous conditions such as storms that can be made from a variety of materials such as carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, and the like.

[0018]A third objective of the present invention is to provide an easily assembled and relocateable personal shelter and / or shelter for pets for protecting occupants from dangerous conditions such as storms that can be structured for protection against a wide selection of hazards.

Problems solved by technology

Dangerous storms such as hurricanes and tornadoes can occur with little warning.

Flying debris can cause much injury and destruction.

In recent years, more than 1,000 twisters have killed in excess of one hundred twenty people and caused millions of dollars in property damage in the United States.

Hurricanes such as Hurricane Andrew, Wilma and Katrina have been known to cause catastrophic damages in the billions of dollars.

Regardless of catastrophic damages that occur from tornadoes, hurricanes, and other hazards, relatively little protection against them is provided because of variously prohibitive problems with present protection alternatives.

Additionally, hurricanes have little warnings and are known to change direction with little advance notice.

Since community shelters are not close by to everyone needing the shelter and these types of shelters often do not allow for pets, there is a need for personal relocatable shelters and / or shelters for pets in close proximity to an individual's home.

Various patents have been proposed over the years as shelters but fail to provide safe, reliable, and easily relocatable shelters for individuals and / or pets.

Additionally, Boyer is too large to be used in limited spaces such as garages since it would take up to much space.

Furthermore, Boyer has almost no other utility when not being used as a shelter.

Various other types of shelters have also been proposed but also fail to provide safe relocatable habitats for persons and / or pets.

Many of these proposed devices has problems that would prohibit their wide use.

Chardon '606 is designed for “protecting large-size objects, such as open-air machines, cycles, motorcycles, windsurfers, etc.”, abstract, and is also not designed for protecting people.

In addition the subsurface installation is not practical and in fact dangerous to be used in many low level water regions such as Florida, since storms can potentially flood these below ground shelters.

Further, these patents require users access the shelters through a roof door, which causes inherent problems if debris falls on the top of the shelter and restricting the door from being opened.

While Jackson '343 and Silen '972 propose above ground shelters, these devices have another problem which is similar to the other patents referenced above in that none of them would be practical in limited spaces such as garages since the shelters would take up to much space and eliminate space of automobiles, and the like.

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